Cable Lift or Hydraulic Lift?

[Boats Bros]

I live up a canal on a constant level lake and it is time to improve my waterfront with a boat lift. Everyone on the lake has cable lifts, but I am being quoted 9k installed for a hydraulic boat lift. From what I understand this is a fairly good deal. I have not got any quotes for a cable lift but I don’t see them being able to come anywhere close to this price. Aside from the price, is there a reason why I don’t see any hydraulic lifts out here? I see them on other constant level lakes in the area, but not this one. A friend of mine swears by cable lifts and thinks this is a horrible mistake, can anyone say otherwise?

[Scooter G]

Ah oh, is this going to turn into a "what oil should I use" thread
Good luck man, wish I was struggling with the same dilemma.

[bturner]

I hate being the jaded one all the time but here it goes....

I had a hoist dealer tell me a couple years back that there are only 2 types of hydraulic lifts....

• The ones that are leaking.

and

• The ones that will be leaking.

Is this true? Probably not but unless you need the hydraulic lift for weight, people on our lake go with cable lifts as well. There are a bunch of reasons many people feel this way and I'll list a few.....

• Cable lifts are simple, making the minimal amount of maintenance simple and easy to understand/perform.
• If you lose power you can always crank them up by manually.
• They tend to be lighter and easier to get in and out of the water.
• If a cable does break, it doesn't throw a gallon of oil in the lake.

I know 2 people with hydraulic lifts that, to be fair, are 10+ years old. They work on them to a considerable degree about every 2-3 years. My lift is 21+ years old, I've had to replace the main cable once.

All this said, if you have a surf ship or ever want a surf ship and need 8K lbs. capacity, I don't see another option other than hydraulic. And I know, I know, there's going to be 20 people swearing they never had a leak or heard of a hydraulic lift ever leaking but I personally have seen them leak and have personally assisted in rebuilding both of the ones my friends own. My friend that owns the dock and lift business has always steered us clear of them UNLESS you need one for the capacity.

One final caveat, not all cable lifts are created equal. Buy cheap garbage and expect trouble. I personally would rather buy a 10 YO ShoreStation or Hewitt (these are the big dogs in my parts) than a cheap cantilever lift. I've owned 2 Shorestation lifts, bought both used. The first one I owned for about 5 years, sold it for a wider, higher capacity lift when I bought a new(er) boat. Sold it for what I bought it for. The second one I bought used and I've owned that one for 21 years. If I sold tomorrow, I'd probably get what I paid for it. If I were buying tomorrow, I'd be looking hard at the Hewitt.

As far as cable lift maintenance/failure goes.... As stated above I've only replaced the lift tube with the main cable once on the current lift about 8 years ago and upgraded to poly bunks 2 years ago when the old bunk carpeting wore through. Other than that my total maintenance has been lithium spray grease on the cable drum once a year. That seems to have made cable wear much better.

I'm sure other people will have had different experiences but these have been mine. Best of luck!

[vision]

Cable lift for a boat house.

They make cable lifts capable of handling boats substantially heavier than any currently produced tow boat.

Installed correctly in terms of boat weight distribution, and keep them lubed, and they will last decades.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[charlesml3]

OK, let's try to keep some sanity in this thread. I live on Lake Gaston in NC and I own and operate a lift business. I've been doing this for many years. I install, service and repair lifts from small jetski side-mounts all the way up to 10,000 pound wake boat lifts.

In this area, we're all fixed docks so cable lifts are all we see. The water level at the lake only varies by about 8 inches so they're a perfect fit here.

When choosing a lift for your boat, the number one consideration needs to be local dealer/service and support. It does you NO good to have a fancy, one-off lift when the nearest service tech is 8 hours away.

I run across this a few times each season. I'll get a service call and it's a lift they bought off the internet or a tidewater lift they brought in from the coast. I'll work on it and fix it if I have what I need. If it needs a part and I have to order it, then your boat is going to be stuck on the lift for a week or so. This situation quickly negates whatever you saved buying it off the internet instead of going with a local dealer.

Look around at the lifts you see on your lake. There should be one style or model that's pretty prominent, and for good reason.

-Charles

[SilentSeven]

Just curious....what type of hydraulic lift can you get installed for $9K? Manufacturer / model / weight rating? I'm not really read in on new lift prices but around here older used 4K lb hydraulic lifts (Sunstream, Basta) go for around $2-4k (you pull and move) with higher prices for newer models or models with a 6k lb+ rating. I think the new 4K models start for at least $12K+ and go up from there. This is before any installation work.

I have rebuilt two 4k lb aluminum basta hydraulic lifts. Bought for $2k each. They are actually quite simple to work on. After some period, the ram will leak but they can be replaced or resealed. Your local hydraulic shop can build you industrial grade hoses that will last for a really long time. And the lift hydraulic bits are basically off the shelf commercial 'truck lift gate' parts. If you source from basta, everything is the 3 to 4x what it costs vs just the regular version of the part.

I do agree with charlesml3 in that lifts are really regional and all about the support network. There's a reason most people in an area have a certain type installed.....

[Boats Bros]

I never knew there were such strong opinions on this topic! This is for a 1 year old 6k sunstream lift. I understand everyone has different wants and needs, but my specific need is your average 2009 210, and will not be upgrading boats soon if ever. Lakes just 1 hour away have a mixture of both style of lifts, but for my shallow water depth of about 4’ at the dock I was leaning towards hydraulic.

but it sounds like it is more a matter of preference than anything.

[bturner]

Pretty much, that's why they make them and are still in business. Charles makes a great point on having a good dealer if you don't plan on handling any issues yourself. I personally do all my own work and buy used so that's not an issue for me. That said, I know a lot of people that I would absolutely not recommend buying used to and have pointed them to dealers I know have good service for a lift.

The only other advice I would have would be to consider all aspects of lift ownership and how you will use it. Think it through before you invest in what should be a long term purchase.

• How will you get it in and out of the water?
• How will it sit next to the dock?
• How easy will getting into the boat be with the style of lift you're buying?
• Will you have shore power for the lift and a motor to operate the lift?
• How long do you plan to own it?
• Whose going to maintain it?

Lots of things to consider before purchase.

[SilentSeven]

$9k for 6k lbs sunstream lift installed? That's a good deal! One year old? Just a baby! My basta's are going on 30 years old...but they are aluminum so I think they last longer. As long as you are salt free, I would guess you have at least 20 years of life in that lift with some basic maintenance. Here in the PNW, Sunstreams are everywhere and are considered a quality brand.

Here's a few answers on our setup to bturner questons.

- We self installed our lift. Did a few measurements. Assembled on the beach with the correct leg settings, got a crew of about 6 neighbor dudes and just picked it up and walked it in. Easy. Works well if you have a beach and not a bulkhead/seawall. Size of crew depends on the weight of the lift. Ours was about 450lbs.

- Getting in/out of the boat is pretty easy. We just lower the boat to the dock level and climb in. A fixed dock helps as you can site the lift closer than a floating dock. But you do need plan this aspect for sure.

- No shore power should be needed. All of the late model hydraulic lifts run off a deep cycle battery with a solar charger in a dock box.

- Hydraulic lift maintenance for a new lift like this one is simple. Just do a fluid flush every season or two; it's pretty simple for DIYer. Dealer fluid is $$$. We buy 5 gallon pails of a 3rd party marine eco friendly hydraulic fluid to save $. Replacement hoses likely about (conservatively) every 5 years. I think some of the original hoses on my lift where 15+ years old and were OK. At some point, it may need replacement/rebuilt rams and that's more of dealer item. Sunstream's typically have two smaller rams which add a bit complexity. My basta's have a one single big ram.

The deep end of our lift is in about 5 1/2 feet of water and shallow end is 4 ft. Lake level goes up/down about 8-10 inches and we have no problems. If you have a lot of water shift and the lift is shallow, you'll need to plan your settings to make sure you can get off in the lowest water and lift the boat out of the water when the lake is at the max level.

Our lift has a remote keyfob. Beyond fantastic. You absolutely want this. Typically, this can be retrofitted to the control box if not factory installed.

I 100% guarantee you will love a hydraulic lift!

[SilentSeven]

Just for grins...a few pics of our setup. Since these pictures were taken, we have moved liftbox out of the way over to the finger pier.

[srock]

This is so situationally dependent that I think you need to define your situation better including local rules and regulations. If I am sitting on an ice free canal with decent depth and 220V power avilable, I am condidering a 4 post cradle or maybe even an elevator. I do not see the benefit of hydraulic unless you are running off solar charged batteries and do not want to crank by hand.

[GMLIII]

Lots of advice on this post. the biggest take away I see is what Charles said. "Look around at the lifts you see on your lake. There should be one style or model that's pretty prominent, and for good reason".

[MN Ryan]

It's interesting seeing what's "normal" in other regions. I see mostly cable lifts here, though with boats getting bigger, I'm seeing some hydraulic lifts recently. Of course, we have to pull everything out if the water before ice up, so that somewhat limits what we can do here. My MIL has a Shorestation vertical cable lift for her pontoon, and my BIL has a similar Shorestation for his X10. Both have full canopies (major PITA with the tower on the X10, but it's not my boat or lift ). Both need AC power. They're nice lifts and pretty maintenance free. My MIL had a cantilever lift prior to this current one. I didn't care for it. It became a kite one night during a storm because I had taken to boat in for service. That was interesting to wake up to a missing lift--found it about 100 yards down shore in 6' of water. "Honey, you'd better call your mom!"

[bturner]

My BIL and I run our lift motors with a connection to the battery on the boat, been doing it this way for some 25 years. Not nearly as nice as running them on 120 AC but it does the job. The way his frontage sits there's a road between his house and the lake making running 120 AC to the dock nearly impossible without completely ridiculous effort and engineering.

We've considered installing a solar changed battery system to handle both lifts but don't want to attract those that might want to take said system for themselves.

[jmo]

I have a 5000# shorestation hydraulic lift with canopy, it’s awesome. The hydraulics are all above the water. Solar panel keeps the battery charged the whole season. My canopy cover can be rolled up in the event you need to take your boat in for service and are concerned about strong winds tipping it over. I am season six, the battery is the only thing I have replaced. Only drawback is it weighs in at 1k pounds with the canopy, so it’s quite the engineering feat to get it out of the water and up the hill at the shore. I could write a whole separate thread on that!